﻿Three new species of jumping spiders (Araneae, Salticidae) from Hunan, China

﻿Abstract Three new species of the genera Thiania C. L. Koch, 1846 and Yaginumaella Prószyński, 1979 are described and named as T.bamiansp. nov. (♂♀), T.flacatasp. nov. (♀) and Y.curvatasp. nov. (♂♀), from Hunan Province, China. Detailed descriptions, photos of somatic features and copulatory organs, as well as a distribution map are provided. Nucleotide data for the barcoding gene, cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) of T.bamiansp. nov. (♂♀) and Y.curvatasp. nov. (♀) are provided.


Introduction
Thiania C. L. Koch, 1846 is a well-known genus of the tribe Euophryini.It currently comprises 25 species mainly distributed in Asia, of which eight species are known from China (WSC 2024).Species belonging to Thiania can be recognized by the rectangular flattened carapace and robust leg I (Prószyński 2009).
While examining specimens collected from Bamian Mountain, two new species of Thiania and one new species of Yaginumaella were recognized and are described here.

Materials and methods
Specimens are stored in 100% ethanol.Vulvae were cleaned with trypsin solution before examination and photography.Left male palps were dissected and used for description and color photos.Specimens were examined and measured with a Leica M205C stereomicroscope.Photos were taken with a digital camera Kuy Nice E3IS PM mounted on an Olympus BX53.Compound focus-stacked images were generated using Helicon Focus v. 7.6.1 and then adjusted in Adobe Photoshop 2020.The map was created by ArcMap v. 10.8.All measurements are given in millimeters (mm).Leg measurements are given ZooKeys 1204: 301-312 (2024), DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.1204.122887 Song-Lin Li et al.: Three new species of jumping spiders (Araneae, Salticidae) from Hunan, China in the following order: total length (femur, patella + tibia, metatarsus, tarsus).Genomic DNA was extracted from four legs of each specimen using an Animal Genomic DNA Isolation Kit (Tiangen Biotech, Beijing, China), and the universal primer pair LCO1490/HCO2198 was used for amplification of the COI gene (Folmer et al. 1994).The PCR products were sent to Tsingke Biotechnology Co., Ltd (Changsha, China) for purification and sequencing.The obtained sequences were aligned using Geneious Prime v. 9.0.Etymology.The specific epithet is derived from the type locality Bamian Mountain National Nature Reserve, noun.
Diagnosis.The male of this new species is similar to that of Thiania longapophysis Yu &Zhang, 2022 (Yu andZhang 2022: figs 7A-D, 8A, B) in the shape of palpal bulb, sperm duct and embolus, but can be distinguished by: 1) the angle between RTA and cymbium (Fig. 1A) smaller than that angle in T. longapophysis (fig.8A); and 2) the distal end of RTA bar-shaped (Fig. 1A), while barbshaped in T. longapophysis (fig.8A).The female of this new species is similar to that of Thiania luteobrachialis Schenkel, 1963 (Peng 2020: fig.352a-c) in the shape of the epigynal window and the location of copulatory openings, but can be distinguished by the following characters: 1) proximal portion of copulatory ducts straight and V-shaped (Fig. 1D), while curved and U-shaped in T. luteobrachialis (fig.352c); and 2) spermathecae overlapping with copulatory ducts (Fig. 1D), while not overlapping with copulatory ducts in T. luteobrachialis (fig.352c).
Description.Male (holotype) (Fig. 2A, B).Total length 6.02; carapace 2.39 long, 2.03 wide; abdomen 3.45 long, 1.73 wide.Clypeus 0.24 high.Carapace   Leg formula: 1432.Abdomen dorsum brown, edges darker and with white hair, median portion with one pair of dark patches, posterior portion with four dark triangular patterns; venter pale yellow, median portion with one pair of gray longitudinal lines.Color paler than that in male.
Epigyne (Fig. 1C, D).Epigynal window circular.Copulatory openings oval, located on both sides of the epigynal window.Copulatory ducts with straight original portion and coiled terminal portion.Spermathecae shoe-shaped, slightly narrower than the copulatory ducts and overlapping with terminal portion of copulatory ducts.

GenBank accession number
Diagnosis.This new species can be distinguished from any other congeneric species by the vaulted copulatory openings.
Male.Unknown.Distribution.Known only from the type locality (Fig. 6).
Remarks.The genus Yaginumaella is currently placed in the Plexippini tribe according to molecular analysis, together with the genus Ptocasius (Maddison 2015).Yaginumaella closely resembles Ptocasius (Logunov and Jäger 2015), especially in females (Li et al. 2018).However, there are clear differences in the type species of Yaginumaella and Ptocasius (Prószyński 2017).Patoleta et al. (2020), transferred 37 species of Yaginumaella to the genus Ptocasius only based on the similarity of genitalic structures.But, based on the characteristics shown in literature illustrations of species, these two genera can be distinguished by the following characters: 1) carapace with light longitudinal stripes in Yaginumaella, while usually with transverse stripes in Ptocasius; and 2) palpal bulb enlarged, with tegular lobe in Yaginumaella, while oblate, without tegular lobe in Ptocasius (Li et al. 2018).Therefore, according to the above characteristics, Y. curvata sp.nov. is described as a member of the genus Yaginumaella.In addition, based on the close collecting locations and genital characteristics of males and females, we tentatively identify them as the same species.Etymology.The specific epithet is derived from the Latin "curvata" (curved), referring to the curved retrolateral tibial apophysis, adjective.
Palp (Fig. 4A, B).Embolus long and thin, originates at about 7:00 o'clock position; tegular lobe folds to retrolateral side; retrolateral tibial apophysis curved towards dorsal side at right angle from the middle.
Epigyne (Fig. 4C, D).Epigynal window oval, located at anterior portion of epigyne.Copulatory openings slit-shaped, located at the lower lateral margin of the epigynal window.Copulatory ducts short and stout.Spermathecae tubular and intertwined.